It was Hockey Night in Canada and Retro Night at the Saddledome when the Senators visited on February 27. The opening video had clips from the 1980s to now and the Flames wore their previous third jersey: white flaming C on red.

Throughout the night there were hilarious retro graphics, music and videos. The fans booed Phaneuf whenever he had the puck. It was a tied game or a game with a narrow 1 or 2 goal margin. All these factors made the game much better live than it probably was for Flames fans watching it on TV.

There had been changes to the team since the last game I attended a week ago. Hudler was on his way to Florida having been traded away for two draft picks. Granlund was also traded away and Shinkaruk, the player the Flames got for him, was with the Stockton AHL team. Bollig and Jooris were dressed.

But the Flames broke down defensively. Ortio was exposed in net and there were lots of turnovers and loose pucks available for the Senators to pounce on. No matter had bad the Flames play defensively was there was hope every time Johnny stepped on the ice that he’d get his hat trick goal to win or tie it (until the empty better). Senators stormed to a 5-4 lead and got an empty netter to seal a 6-4 win.